Vehicles are often fitted with racks for carrying cargo boxes, recreational equipment mounts, and various other types of loads carriers. These vehicle racks may include crossbars, rails, or other elongate structural members extending over the roof of the vehicle or adjacent the rear of the vehicle. For example, typical roof rack systems include longitudinal rails running parallel to the length of the vehicle, with one or more crossbar members extending between the longitudinal rails. Load carriers are often attached to the rails or crossbars of a vehicle rack by using a connecting device.
Rails and crossbars for vehicle rack systems are provided in an increasing range of shapes and sizes in order to accommodate a widening array of aesthetic and functional requirements. A connector device designed to fit a certain bar or range of bar shapes might not be compatible with other bars having other shapes and sizes. Accordingly, a load carrier manufacturer might provide various connecting devices for use with different shapes and sizes of rails or crossbars. This means that the manufacturer incurs additional costs associated with manufacturing various connector devices, and retailers incur the additional costs associated with stocking the various connector devices. Logistics of selecting appropriate mounting hardware at the point of sale may also be a complicated process. Furthermore, a consumer may need to purchase a different type of connector device for each vehicle or rack on which the consumer desires to mount a load carrier.